One of the most difficult physical changes for both men and women to endure is the loss of hair. For many, the loss of hair is a loss of youth, vitality, and beauty. For others, it is a shrill harbinger of our mortality. Although many men are able to cope with the loss of hair, women oftentimes find it even more devastating.
In particular, when it comes to hair, women spend far more time, energy, and money for the perfect style as compared with men. Beauty magazines dedicate reams of pages detailing the latest trends, color combinations, maintenance, and the like. And so it comes as no surprise that women who experience hair loss feel isolated, and a profound sense of loss.
Although various devices, techniques, and advice are available to treat hair loss in women, many of these products and services are ill-suited for use on a permanent basis and/or impractical for use under intemperate conditions such as rain, wind, and excessive heat.
For example, many women use wigs to combat hair loss. A problem with wigs is that poor anchoring to a woman's scalp can cause the wig to jostle about on a woman's head because it has no way of securing itself to the scalp. This leads to embarrassing changes of position which can signal to the public that the wig is not natural hair and that the wearer is experiencing hair loss. Other techniques such as hair extensions may not provide complete coverage. For instance, if large swaths of hair strands are missing from a scalp, hair extensions may not be able to completely and naturally cover those bare regions.
A related problem some women experience is an impulse control disorder called Trichotillomania. Sufferers of this disorder are compulsively compelled to pull their hair out. Typically, this results in bald regions on their scalps, which are difficult to cover.